Welcome to Theoryland! We love discussions and theories related to the Wheel of Time, and we hope you found us for the same reasons! Before you settle in though, please take a moment to consider the following rules we've established for our little corner of the Internet.

Have fun! From Tamyrlin himself: "We are Hard Core Fan Freaks - You can be too."

Be Smart:

1. Create interesting threads! We love it when questions or ideas are posted that we haven't thought of before. Remember, it's not always about whether we "like" characters – we are Theorylanders, and we are not vapid. If you want to be a Theorylander, practice thinking critically and objectively. Don't worry, we'll help!

2. Back up your theories and positions with research! One of the things that defines a Theorylander is not necessarily knowing everything right away, but knowing where to find what you need to back up your theory or position. The use of quotes from the books is often helpful, so consider joining theoryland.com with a Premium Account to make use of our awesome Search Engine (seriously, it's great), or have your books available in some way, shape, or form. In addition, consider making use of the Theoryland WoT Interview Database, as well as the many other fantastic online resources, to help build a case for your theory or position. Remember that Theoryland is a site dedicated to the sometimes extremely detailed study of the Wheel of Time series. Please don't take it personally if your theory is sliced to pieces by quotes from the books, interviews, or even just the way you placed a comma in one of your sentences.

3. Don't forget that while we value logic and sound reasoning, we also value posts written in proper English – keep in mind that there's a huge difference between "Let's eat grandma" and "Let's eat, grandma". This is a website dedicated to a very complex and intricate book series. But, please be patient with posters whose native language is not English and those who are new to the experience of Theoryland discussion.

4. Don't flood the forums with too many threads at once. Have lots of questions? Keep them to one thread, or check out the "Ask Us Anything about WoT" thread, which was specifically created to provide you with a place to ask your one-off questions about the Wheel of Time. Further discussion related to such questions is encouraged, but will most likely be moved to a separate thread.

5. Try to stay on topic before hijacking a thread with off-topic discussions, particularly on the WoT forums, at least until the topical discussion appears to have run its course.

6. Please use the various boards accordingly. This means that your fan-fic does not belong in the General WoT forum, and neither do any complaints about recent events in the real world. So, if you notice that your thread was moved to another forum, it's because we felt it had a more appropriate home on Theoryland. Also, feel free to explore all the varied discussion options available here at Theoryland! Doing a WoT re-read? Check out the Re-Read forum! In addition, we have a really active Non-WoT forum that can be a lot of fun, so don't hesitate to check it out!

7. We like to keep negative posts that threaten to derail the discussion of other topics confined to designated threads. That means that we reserve the right to move individual posts to a separate thread, or even to merge a thread that has turned into bashing with the thread designated for that purpose. On the same note, please refrain from bringing up your opinions on the writing style and writing choices made after the passing of Robert Jordan in threads that are not specifically related to those topics.

8. Keep in mind that almost all of us have read the whole series at least once, and most of have read the series many, many times. Beware spoilers! That being said, as the latest book comes out, there will be numerous spoilers posted on the A Memory of Light forum, so remember to mark your spoilers in both the thread title and the post itself. Do not use spoilers in thread titles! If you post aMoL spoilers on the General WoT forum, we will move them.

Play Nice:

9. Feel free to engage in heated, passionate discussion about any topics. Feel free to have epic, fundamental disagreements with others about those topics. However, please refrain from making personal attacks, posting inappropriate comments (such as racial, sexist, homophobic, or religious slurs), or using too much profanity, and remember: this is an international community.

10. Don't troll. Don't feed the trolls. Our (loose) definition of trolling:
- Belligerent, attention-seeking behavior.
- "Stalking" on the forums (following a poster around and antagonizing that person just for the sake of it).
- Personal insults and attacks.

11. Posts identified as problematic, including those that contain personal insults or attacks, trolling, and/or inappropriate comments, will not be tolerated and will be subject to moderation. (Please see the postscript below for possible moderation outcomes.)

12. If your post has been deleted or edited due to a heated disagreement with another poster and you feel like you don't have closure, consider taking the argument offline either via private messaging or email. Once the argument is over, please try to leave it in the past. Constantly bringing up a past disagreement may lead to stalking and/or trolling, and that is something to be avoided. Also, remember that it is not considered polite to disclose the contents of private messages to other users, much less to the entire community, without the consent of the other party.

13. Avoid making alt accounts. We have very itchy moderator fingers when it comes to alt accounts. We'll find out and it most likely won't end well. It may seem like fun and games but most of the time when posters make alt accounts, they use those accounts to stir up trouble which usually counts as trolling. Just because you didn't do it on your "normal" account, doesn't mean you'll get away with it.

Postscript - Outcomes Related to Moderated Posts:

If one or more of your posts becomes subject to moderation, there are a number of possible outcomes, depending on the circumstances:
- You are asked via private message to edit your own post.
- Your post is edited for you, and you are told why by private message.
- Your post is deleted, and you are told why by private message.
- Your post is temporarily moved to the Moderator Board until a decision can be reached, and you are informed by private message.
- You will be warned by private message that you will be banned if you do it again.
- You are banned for a discrete period of time (usually 24-48 hours, but we reserve the right to modify that based on the circumstances).
- You are banned permanently.

Chosen

11-14-2012 09:23 AM

Please note that these rules are evolving as we go along; parts of the rules may change in the future to be more lax or strict to suit the needs of the forums.

These rules only apply to WoT discussion unless otherwise specified by Nae'blis

Chosen

07-10-2014 06:33 PM

The Chosen have discussed the current rules and decided to make a modification to rule #7 above; the posted rules now reflect this change.

The original rule #7 was this:

Quote:

7. We like to keep negative posts about Egwene that threaten to derail discussion of other topics confined to one thread only. That means that we reserve the right to move individual posts to that thread, or even to merge a thread that has turned into Egwene-bashing with the one thread designated for that purpose. We reserve the right to expand this rule to include other characters as discussion on the forums evolves.

It has been changed to this:

Quote:

7. We like to keep negative posts that threaten to derail the discussion of other topics confined to designated threads. That means that we reserve the right to move individual posts to a separate thread, or even to merge a thread that has turned into bashing with the thread designated for that purpose. On the same note, please refrain from bringing up your opinions on the writing style and writing choices made after the passing of Robert Jordan in threads that are not specifically related to those topics.

The change was made in order to allow the rule to apply more generally to topics beyond those involving Egwene and to better fit the current flow of discussions on the book forums.